I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to synchronization techniques for a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.
A wireless communication system may include any number of Node Bs that can support communication for any number of user equipments (UEs). Each Node B may support one or more cells, where the term “cell” can refer to the smallest coverage area of a Node B and/or a Node B subsystem serving this coverage area. A UE (e.g., a cellular phone) may be within the coverage of one or more cells at any given moment. The UE may have just been powered on or may have lost coverage and thus may not know which cells can be received. The UE may perform cell search to detect for cells and to acquire timing and other information for detected cells.
Each cell may transmit primary and secondary synchronization signals to assist the UEs perform cell search. In general, a synchronization signal, may be any signal that assists a receiver to detect for a transmitter and to obtain timing and/or other information for the transmitter. The synchronization signals represent overhead and should be transmitted as efficiently as possible. Furthermore, the synchronization signals should allow the UEs to quickly and efficiently perform cell search.